1. Field
This application relates generally to digital media, and more specifically to a system and method for jamming specified media content by age category.
2. Related Art
It is known that a person's ability to hear high-frequency sound decreases with age. For example, persons under eighteen (18) years of age can typically hear eighteen (18) kHz sounds that most adults older than thirty (30) cannot hear. The following frequency audibility table demonstrates high-frequency sound threshold level for that various age groups. (It is noted that other frequency audibility tables can also be utilized according to various studies of age-related frequency hearing loss).
FrequencyAge Group  8 kHzEveryone  10 kHz60 & Younger  12 kHz50 & Younger14.1 kHz49 & Younger14.9 kHz39 & Younger15.8 kHz30 & Younger16.7 kHz24 & Younger  20 kHz18 & Younger
Furthermore, the digital distribution of digital entertainment content via the Internet has increased significantly. Various types of entertainment content such as digital television and movie services, user-uploaded videos and digital music are now widely and easily accessible to anyone with Internet access. For example, various web sites now provide television shows, uploaded user videos and streaming movies that can be accessed through such ubiquitous devices as smart phones and tablet computers. At the same time, digital media receivers (DMR) give users the ability to obtain digital entertainment content from the Internet and play it on a home theater system or television (e.g. a ‘smart TV’). Accordingly, the demarcating lines between more traditional mediums of providing entertainment content and the Internet have become increasingly blurred.
In this context, controlling access to digital entertainment content has become increasing important and difficult. Traditional forms of controlling Internet access (e.g. parental controls, workplace controls, etc.) often rely on blocking entire web sites and/or types of digital entertainment content. Controlling access to digital entertainment is often based on age-related concerns. For example, a parent may use a website blocking method to prevent children from accessing certain websites or watching certain television shows. Blocking methods can be inconvenient. The parent may need to deblock a web page in order to access it, and then reblock it afterwards. Such constant inconveniences can discourage use of parental controls. Thus, a system and method of jamming specified media content according age categories is needed.